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Should Anthony Weiner Resign?

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Representative Anthony D. Weiner, whose Congressional district stretches across parts of Brooklyn and Queens, is at the center of a scandal after sending an inappropriate photograph of himself to a young woman via Twitter and then lying about it to try to cover it up. On Monday, Mr. Weiner, who is married — since July, to Huma Abedin (a top aide to Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton) — admitted that he sent the photo and engaged in other inappropriate exchanges with other women. What do you think about this scandal? Do you think Mr. Weiner should resign from office?

As Michael Barbaro reports, Mr. Weiner held a press conference in which he admitted his social media liaisons:

Representative Anthony D. Weiner, a rising star in Democratic politics who many believed would be the next mayor of New York City, admitted on Monday to having had inappropriate online exchanges with at least six women, and repeatedly lying about sending a sexually suggestive photograph to a young woman over Twitter last month.

After a week of sometimes indignant public denials and insistence that he was the victim of an Internet hacker, a weeping and stammering Mr. Weiner, 46, acknowledged at a news conference that he had sent the photo of himself in his underwear to the woman, a college student in Seattle.

The six-term congressman from Brooklyn said he had broken no laws and would remain in office, calling the matter an “aberration from which I’ve learned.”

During an extraordinary 27-minute appearance, Mr. Weiner went on to describe a side of his life that he had kept secret from his closest confidants and family members, befriending young female admirers over the Internet and engaging in intimate sexual banter with them, sometimes sending them racy self portraits taken with his BlackBerry.

In one of the photographs, he is sitting bare-chested at his home computer, with a row of personal pictures behind him.

“Over the past few years, I have engaged in several inappropriate conversations conducted over Twitter, Facebook, e-mail and occasionally on the phone with women I had met online,” Mr. Weiner said.

The congressman said he had never personally met the women with whom he had corresponded. “I don’t know what I was thinking,” he said. “This was a destructive thing to do. I’m apologetic for doing it.”

Mr. Weiner’s political standing appeared in grave danger after his news conference. There was a striking absence of public expressions of support from his colleagues, and the House Democratic leader, Representative Nancy Pelosi of California, called for an ethics investigation into his conduct. “I am deeply disappointed and saddened about this situation,” she said.

House ethics rules state that members should conduct themselves “at all times in a manner that shall reflect creditably on the House.”

Students: Tell us what you think about this scandal. Should Mr. Weiner resign? Why or why not? How, in your mind, does it compare with other scandals involving political leaders?

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Should he resign? I think the question is, should we really blacklist this guy for having “inappropriate” conversations on Twitter? I don’t care about his sex life, in my opinion that doesn’t translate to him being a poor politician. And, really, who are we to start casting stones? It’s this kind of mob mentality that we need to separate ourselves from as a civilization. What makes us better? What gives us the right to judge? I guarantee you that no one cursing Anthony’s name is truly holier than thou. We all have our problems, the only difference is that the majority of us aren’t put in the spotlight.

The woman was of age. The man likes what he likes, and there are many who like far “worse” as if we’re in a place to judge. I don’t care. It’s not our business. Judge him by his actions as a representative, not by his personal life. That is between him, and his wife. End of story.

Of course he shouldn’t resign. How utteraly ridiculous to suggest so. What he did, though deplorable on many counts, essentially is between him and his wife now. Why on earth should he be fired over it? His actions have no bearing at all on how well (or otherwise) he performs his job, and until they do, I don’t see how his private life has any relevance on his employment. For goodness sake, everyone has private things that they’d rather keep quiet – no one is a saint, imagine if all YOUR dirty secrets became worldwide gossip. Would it be fair that you get fired too, even though your private life has nothing to do with how well you do your job? Of course not. This is politicall correctness gone mad. He made a mistake and has apologised, now leave him alone and let him and his wife sort out their private issues privately.

I do not see how what he did is anyone’s business beside him and his wife. She’s the one who should be hurt, not us. Things he does in his personal life should not affect what we think of him politically. So I say, no he shouldn’t resign.

Representative Weiner should be ashamed of this situation he has gotten himself into. My opinion on the matter is that this, is a disgrace to the rest of the house. He Made a choice that shouldn’t have been made. His decision cannot be reversed, his choice to do these thing was of his own free will he was not forced he was not pressured he made the choice to do this. This is disgraceful and unmoral. He is married and made a choice to meet more women. Plus he is not setting a good example for peoples choices and opinions based on the house or other government officials. So yes Weiner in my opinion should resign from office.

In the article “It’s Not about you,” by David Brooks, he informs the reader about how people may “lose themselves” in their lives and career. As a student I agree with David Brooks, because many graduates are not yet focused on what occupation they want to pursue. Following your education by attending college should guide you right into the work field of your choice.
On lines 29-30 Brooks states, “College grads are often sent out into the world… limitless possibilities. But this… is of no help to the central business of adulthood…” Brooks’ point of view is that graduates are sent out into a world of many possibilities, but in reality they still are not certain of what they want to achieve. In my opinion college is designed to set your focuses in order, so that when you graduate it is easier to find a settled job. When I attend college, I want to discover my purpose and then work to my best ability.
Personally I believe in stability. On lines 30-31, Brooks says, “…finding serious things to tie yourself down to…” As a person, to me there isn’t a greater than that one knows they have a stable job and money is in a constant flow. When I think about the future, I imagine having a stable job that I feel is my calling.
David Brooks states on lines 45-46, “Most people don’t form a self and then lead a life. They are called by a problem, and the self is constructed gradually by their calling.” In a sense I agree with this statement, because a person, who has been abused, would eventually grow-up and want to help those who are being abused. People can’t always follow a dream, therefore they need to set up a goal that they know they will be good at and follow that career.
Brooks says, on line 31, “The successful young adult is beginning to make sacred commitments…” I believe that with sacred commitments one can set their life and work. Well on their career my sacred commitments are to help my family and work to my full potential. Therefore, when I graduate I will have a set focus and I will find a work field as soon as possible because time is money.

Rep. Christopher Lee resigned within hours after it was discovered that he had sent a photo of himself shirtless to a woman over Craigslist. When caught, he didn’t lie and cover it up and blame it on a “hacker.” He acted like an adult and took full responsibility for it.

Sorry, I don’t want someone in the House who coached one of his women (porn star Ginger Lee) to lie to the media when asked about their online relationship. He even offered her his”team” to help her, and advised her to throw in a few “yalls” to make it sound authentic, as she is from the South.

We are always trying to teach our children to own up to mistakes and to not lie. What kind of an example is Weiner for our children? And what have we come to when so many of us cynically say that lying is not a big deal?

Ideally, we want our leaders to show good judgment and behavior that isn’t reckless. Weiner showed very reckless behavior and very, very poor judgment. Is this the sort of leaders we want REPRESENTING our country?? No. Please step down, Mr. Weiner.

Mr. Weiner should absolutely resign. This situation does clear damage to the reputation of his trustworthiness. The people of New York elected him to represent their needs in Congress because they trusted his judgement to make the right decisions. Now that this whole scandal has compromised that very judgement he is not trustworthy and therefore should resign from his office. Additionally not all of the pictures have been released. These unreleased pictures could easily be a source of blackmail and could compromise that seat in the House. For both of these reasons Mr. Weiner owes it to the people of the United States to resign from his current office.

Let’s talk about Mr. Weiner. Mr. Weiner should be able to make his own decisions without approval or denial from middle or high school students. However, the democratic public should be able to have an impact on Mr. Weiner’s decision on whether or not to decide to leave the office. Personally, I believe that Weiner should resign because he has shown that he does not know how to conduct himself appropriately on the Internet or in public. He has shown an ability to act without reasoning before he acts. For these reasons, Weiner should resign.

Rep Weiner’s behavior is not acceptable. He send nude pictures of himself to women he didn’t even know, some of them even young enough to be his daughter. Based on the timeline of many of his conversations, some of them happened during the week while he was at work doing his job. So yes, I think he should resign. I’m not saying I’m a perfect person by any means, but I’m not an elected public official.

As a voter myself, I expect elected politicians to make good decisions. If Rep Weiner is so irrisponsible with decisions in his personal life, how can he be trusted to make good decisions as a member of Congress? There should be some basic code of conduct that elected, paid government officials have to follow. There are many companies and organizations, such as sports franchises and the US Military, that require there employees/people to abile by a conduct code. I think there are many qualified people who would be able to do his job without all of the chaos that Mr Weiner has caused.

I don’t think people like Mr. Weiner should be in office. We need more upstanding moral Christians like Sarah Palin running our country, not guys like Anthony Weiner who use curse words on the internet and talk about sex. Sex should only happen in marriage and masturbation is not healthy.

His position in power does not immune him from the law. However, he shouldn’t be severly punished or removed for immoral decisions, his actions as a congessman should warrant whether he’d be suitable to maintain his position. The public eats up gossip, and it’s about time we got a politician to mess with again. Anyhow, if it were only a man with a blue collar job, such as a welder, would this be so controversal. Also, he is ELECTED, meaning you put him there. I cannot vote, but nethertheless I think he should stay for one reason: His personal life is not his political life.

Look. I agree with much of what the defenders are saying, BUT, HE SHOULD go because he is a liar. I would FULLY agree with supporting him had he just fessed up from the get go.. To have a cover up and tell other people how to lie for him and claim it’s a conspiracy is UNACCEPTABLE.. How can we trust anything he says? Clearly he has decided that if it suits his interests, he can lie….. GO. GOODBYE

It’s not the creepy sexting, it’s the bald-faced lying. As soon as he lied to everyone about his disgusting behavior, it became a matter of public concern – not one that remains between him and his wife, and the women he sexted…His credibility is shot and his judgment is, at the very least, questionable. He should resign.

Either way, the United States will never be perfect or “good,” as a whole nation idealize. There will always be one (or more) corrupt, hideous, dishonest politician. I agree with the fact that personal life is not political life, but both are reflection of each other, nonetheless.

Although he will be (and is) seen as an “omen” to the nation’s future, it is essential for a nation to have diverse politics. One should not be very concentrated on one thing or another. It is important that everyone has a voice, and Representative Weiner has a voice–not only his but also of the people he represents.

Congressman Weiner can’t resign soon enough. Creepiness + mendacity = find another day job that will remove him from representing real people with real problems. How could he lie so many times in so many ways?

Powerful men addicted to risk, with no thought to the harmful and hurtful consequences, are so over.

If he would have said that he had sent photos and that would have been the end of the story. He came out and lied and attempted to get others to lie. You have to wonder what else he would do in his capacity to represent the people.

Imagine that a married naked Congresswoman twittered to a man she never met a close-up shot of her genitalia viewed upward from between her spread thighs. Would you feel she has so seriously violated civilized behavior that she is unfit to stay in office? I sure would.